Iraq has given its first warning to the West that it does possess weapons of mass destruction and that President Saddam Hussein would be prepared to use them if his regime was threatened.

The remarks were a complete contradiction of the official Iraqi position. Baghdad has insisted repeatedly that it no longer has chemical, biological or nuclear weapons nor medium-range missiles.
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Western military commanders take the threat of the use of these weapons on the battlefield very seriously, particularly if Saddam is cornered. "In strict military terms, these weapons are not very effective in killing and wounding an opponent," a senior British military source said, "but the psychological impact on troops is tremendous.

"There are few soldiers who will stand and fight in the face of a chemical attack. We have to work on the assumption that Saddam has them and will use them."

That assumption is based on Iraq's behaviour during its war with Iran, when it used chemical weapons extensively against Iranian infantry on the southern front and to subdue Kurdish civilians in the north.

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